Let me say at the outset that I am a very experienced Excel user because what follows may cause some readers to leap to an alternate conclusion.

I create office-type forms and have long ago settled on a basic format of the spreadsheet that has narrow columns and rows. Essentially I start with a blank spreadsheet that resembles graph paper. From here I can create fields and elements of varying width and depth -- using the merge feature -- that do not affect the size of merged elements above or below.

For an 8.5"x11" portrait office form, the left and right margins are .5" and columns A through AM are set to 17 pixels. This setup has worked beautifully on dozens of forms...until today.

I created a new office form today using the same exact parameters but today the form fills perhaps 90% of the intended page width when printed. In fact, I am able to adjust the column widths of all columns (A-AM) to 19 pixels and it still fits nicely on a printed 8.5"x11."

Nothing in my computer setup has changed. I have opened previously-developed forms using the same exact setup, and to my utter surprise, they look and behave exactly as designed. I have checked and doubled-checked margins, column widths, printer setup and Excel options to no avail. I have taken a screenshot of a properly-behaving form's total width and positioned it over my new form and they appear to be exactly the same width. On a properly-behaving form I have adjusted the columns to 19 pixels and this causes the expected pagination problem.

What could I have unwittingly done that caused this change?

Your thoughts and suggestions would be most appreciated.